ST. LOUIS — Chris Redd felt strongly about filming his first big stand-up special in St. Louis.
He was born here and fondly remembers spending his formative years in St. Louis and St. Charles before moving with his family to Chicago in 1994.
“I was 7 when I was yanked out of there,” he says. “I left kicking and screaming. I didn’t want to leave the life I knew. I get attached to things quickly. My mom was switching up things, and I don’t like change like that.”
The experience, he says, taught him to “move on and love a place from afar.”
Redd, 37, currently lives in New York City, where he has been a “Saturday Night Live” cast member since 2018. He won an Emmy Award in his first season with the long-running sketch comedy show.
He also has had prominent roles in “Kenan” on NBC and “Bust Down” on Peacock and is on the road with his “Why Am I Like This?” comedy tour. The show visits the Grandel on Saturday, Aug. 27 for two performances that will be filmed for HBO Max.
This will be Redd’s first time headlining in St. Louis, and he says it’s his biggest stand-up moment ever. The show is the first in a trilogy.
Redd performed in 2013 with the Second City touring company at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. That’s when he realized he needed to do more in his hometown.
“I wanted to do something special and show what the city meant to me,” he says. “I’m coming back to tell the story of where I’ve been to the city where I’m from. It’s a full-circle moment.”
Redd still has family and friends here and is eager to reconnect with St. Louis. Some family members will travel here to be in the audience for his live show.
“I do comedy recon where I experience the city as much as I can, and it comes out in the show,” he says. “I can’t wait to do that in my own city, learn the city again and kick it with family.”
Fans who come to Redd’s stand-up show will see where it all started for him.
“If you liked me in anything, I guarantee you’ll like this,” he says. “I’m better at this than anything I do. This is what I do all day every day. It’s the best representation of who I am and what I think is funny.”
When “Saturday Night Live” returns in the fall for Season 48 — after “a nice, hard reset,” Redd says — it will be missing longtime cast members Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney.
“You don’t understand how much I love those folks,” Redd says. “Pete is my little brother, and he’s doing big things. Aidy sat next to me at every table read. Kate is great. Kyle is one of the funniest, silliest men on earth. It’s going to be weird not having them around, but they’re going to be off doing big funny things, while I’m over here eating Chipotle.”
Season 47, he says, “was a really great season — really fun. I was able to pull off a couple of things I haven’t been able to do before. The show is in a cool place right now on top of culture, and I love everybody there.”
Redd says he’s enjoying his work on “SNL” more now than in his earlier seasons. “I was scared of losing my job; you’re always afraid of losing a job you don’t own.” He became a repertory player in 2019.
Winning an Emmy Award — for music and lyrics for “Come Back Barack” — was a tough act to follow.
“I knew it was downhill from there,” he jokes. “I haven’t had a year like that since. I didn’t know what I was winning for real. I was excited because other people were excited. It was cool, but it wasn’t on my radar until I got it.”
“Kenan” — in which Redd co-starred with “SNL” castmate Kenan Thompson — won’t return for a third season. The series also featured Don Johnson and Bourbon, Missouri, native Taylor Louderman.
“I was bummed out,” Redd says. “We had fun, and it was an instant connection with the cast. We got super close. They were definitely like family, so it stung a lot. I was feeling like we were just getting in the groove for real. Luckily everyone is super talented, and they’re gonna be all right.”
Shortly after “Kenan” aired its second season, “Bust Down” dropped on Peacock. The comedy stars Redd, Sam Jay, Langston Kerman and Jak Knight (who died by suicide in July).
“It was 5 1/2 years in the making,” Redd says. “So many people told us ‘no’ or gave us a deal and reneged. We just pushed through. Only so many people saw it. Perhaps those who see it in the future will like it.”
Redd doesn’t expect a Season 2 for “Bust Down,” but he “will talk about it to anyone who wants to talk about it. ‘Bust Down’ is one of the funniest things I’ve ever done in my life.”
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